Hello everyone, I am new to dart frogs. I have several aquariums w/ fish though so I am a fish guy lol. I would love to start a paludarium with a glass divider between the land and water, with dart frogs on the land part and fish and Amazonian plants in the water. I have a few questions:

First, I read a post on here from 2016 that said not to do water features. I was actually thinking of doing one, can someone tell me why I should not?

Second, the tank will be a 40 breeder. Should I just section off half of this tank? It is a 36x18x18 tank. This is what Josh's frogs recommend for 2-3 bumblebee dart frogs, which is what I want to get. If these frogs like to climb, should I cut the bottom out of the 18x18x18 Exo Terra tank and mount this on top?

Sorry for all the questions, I know next to nothing about keeping frogs.

Are the Josh's frogs kits any good? I think they would make it a lot easier for me.

They're fine, I think, if you want someone else to do the planning for you.

If you are thinking that you want to take the pre-planned route, I do not think a dart frog paludarium is something to take on just yet. Engineering anything as complex as you're talking about is a big task requiring a lot of research and, ideally, experience keeping frogs in a relatively more simple frog viv.

I'm a big downer on complex enclosures, mostly because I start from a different place. I learn of a frog species I want to keep, then learn what that frog needs to thrive in captivity, then (if I still want to keep that species after learning what it needs) I build a viv for it. Then I get the frogs.

No darts need water features/waterfalls/paludaria, so those things have never appealed to me.

Do note that JF's kits can be edited; you can, if you want, use the listed items as a base shopping list, then do some research before purchase and find, say, that a digital hygrometer is a $25 waste, and, say, that there are hardscape elements you like more than a manzanita branch, or you learn about plants you like that might not come in the 'what do we have that isn't selling well' package.

Also, DB has a couple ways to search the archives: the search button in the green toolbar at the top, and the Google search field just above that (I like the Google search, but do try them both to see which you prefer).

I don't even know what kind of springtail I have, but I am curious about this. Why would temperate springtails be better than tropical given the conditions in our vivariums? No challenge intended, I just wanted to learn :-)

I don't even know what kind of springtail I have, but I am curious about this. Why would temperate springtails be better than tropical given the conditions in our vivariums? No challenge intended, I just wanted to learn :-)

Mark

Clearly I was tired, I meant tropical springtails are the best option. Whoops!

So I am having 2nd thoughts about the bumble bee dart frogs. I want something that climbs a bit and I read that they don't really climb. Is this true? If so, what are some good beginner species that do climb?

I am very overwhelmed by information right now. As of a month ago, I didn't know people had dart frogs in their homes, so this is very new to me. The plant part is also very hard for me to understand, as I have only kept aquatic plants. I am also confused as to whether or not I need a heater. Cleaning the habitat is a mystery too. Can you please tell me what to get? A thermometer? A humidity reader?

I HAVE been searching. What I am posting here is what I am having a hard time finding answers for.

A helpful tip from one newbie to another - if you're really having trouble searching the wealth of topics here, the way that I like to do it is to use regular Google search, but tag on "dendroboard" to your search term.

For example, just recently, I wanted to learn about how well the plant "cissus amazonica" would do in a dart frog tank. Rather than starting a new post to ask about this, I went to Google, typed in "cissus amazonica dendroboard" in the search bar, and boom! More than enough Dendroboard forum posts to answer to all my questions.

It's pretty much how I mined all the information I needed to get started on this hobby!

So this is something I have not been finding answers for(or all the ones I find are totally different). Do I need to QT these frogs? I QT my fish in a smaller tank because it is cheaper and easier to treat the display tank. Is this the same for frogs? They are going to be the first frogs, so I don't need to worry about them infecting other frogs.